Hattie’s takes on Bobby

A couple of months back, Food Network star, chef and restaurant owner Bobby Flay visited Saratoga Springs and Hattie’s Restaurant to tape an episode of his latest FN show, “Throwdown with Bobby Flay.” Each episode of the series features a cookoff between Flay and a recognized master in some culinary area — chowder, wedding cake, jerk chicken, doughnuts — with a judge deciding whose tastes better.

The Hattie’s episode, in which Flay takes on Hattie’s chef-owner Jasper Alexander in a fried-chicken battle, was scheduled to debut next week (11/2). But, according to an e-mail sent out by the restaurant, FN likes the episode too much to let it get buried during the November ratings sweeps period, when viewers are more likely to tune to the big broadcast networks. The air date has been bumped to January. I’ll post an exact date and time when available.

I won’t divulge who wins, but really: Celeb chef though he may be, how could Flay turn out fried chicken better than Hattie’s, where the recipe has been perfect for almost 70 years?

Update: Hattie’s will be holding a sneak-preview screening of the episode at 10 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, at the restaurant. The public is invited to attend.